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Groton Daily Independent
Saturday, Nov. 114, 2017 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 125 ~ 46 of 66
US, S. Korea start drills in show of force against N. Korea By KIM TONG-HYUNG, Associated Press
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The United States and South Korea on Saturday started joint naval exer- cises that will involve three U.S. aircraft carriers in what military of cials describe as a clear warning to North Korea.
The four-day drills that began in waters off South Korea’s eastern coast come as President Donald Trump continues a visit to Asia that has been dominated by discussions over the North Korean nuclear threat.
The battle groups of the USS Ronald Reagan, the Theodore Roosevelt and the Nimitz will successively enter the exercise area during the drills that run until Tuesday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
The three carriers will be likely together in the drills around Monday, according to a South Korean military of cial, who didn’t want to be named, citing of ce rules.
The exercises will also involve 11 U.S. Aegis ships and seven South Korean naval vessels, including two Aegis ships. The Aegis technology refers to missile tracking and guidance.
They will aim to enhance combined operation and aerial strike capabilities and also display “strong will and rm military readiness to defeat any provocation by North Korea with dominant force in the event of crisis,” Seoul’s military said in a statement.
It’s the rst time since a 2007 exercise near Guam that three U.S. carrier strike groups are operating together in the Western Paci c, according to the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet. The U.S. carriers will also par- ticipate in separate exercises with three Japanese destroyers on Sunday, according to Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force.
The United States has been sending its strategic assets, also including long-range bombers, to the region more frequently for patrols or drills amid accelerating North Korean efforts to expand its nuclear weapons program.
In recent months, North Korea has tested intercontinental ballistic missiles that could reach the U.S. mainland with further development and has conducted its most powerful nuclear test. It also ew two new midrange missiles over Japan and threatened to launch them toward Guam, a U.S. Paci c territory and military hub.
Trump continued his tough talk against Pyongyang on Friday in a speech to business leaders at the Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation summit in Danang, Vietnam, saying that the region’s future “must not be held hostage to a dictator’s twisted fantasies of violent conquest and nuclear blackmail,” referring to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Trump had also delivered a sharp warning to North Korea in a speech at South Korea’s parliament on Wednesday, telling the country: “Do not underestimate us. And do not try us.”
Sri Lanka govt faces pressure over torture, rape allegations By JAMEY KEATEN & PAISLEY DODDS, Associated Press
GENEVA (AP) — Sri Lanka’s government faced increasing pressure Friday to answer for alleged human rights violations following an Associated Press investigation that found more than 50 men who said they were raped, branded or tortured as recently as this year.
The men’s anguished descriptions of their abuses come nearly a decade after Sri Lanka’s civil war ended and days ahead of a review of the Indian Ocean nation by the U.N.’s top human rights body.
Doctors, psychologists, lawmakers and rights groups have appealed to the United Nations to investigate the new allegations published by The Associated Press on Wednesday. The AP reviewed 32 medical and psychological evaluations and interviewed 20 men who said they were accused of trying to revive a rebel group on the losing side of Sri Lanka’s 26-year civil war. All the men are members of the country’s Tamil ethnic minority.
Although combat ended in 2009, they say the torture and abuse occurred from early 2016 to as recently as July of this year.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the top ranking Democrat on the subcommittee that oversees U.S. foreign